Perception
by Dream Weaver 85
Summary: The gate suddenly snapped shut before either Daniel or Teal’c had the chance to appear, drawing the guards’ attention away from Sam. Jack, however, couldn’t take his eyes off her, needing to get information from her yet worried that she would crumble...S8
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I did it again! Don't ask me why I'm so mean to Sam; I really don't know. Anywho, here's another dark little something I put together. Be warned that there's character death, but it _is_ sci-fi, so… ; )

A/N2: This is the longest thing I've ever written in my life (mostly because I've been neglecting my thesis lately… Eek!), and it's not even an episode tag!

**Perception**

"Walter?" Jack hollered down the stairs, hoping against all odds that there had been a change in the return times for one of the teams currently off-world that no one had told him about. Unscheduled off-world activations necessitated making a trip down to the control room and Jack was pretty sure his knees weren't up for that today.

"Unscheduled off-world activation, sir!" Walter confirmed, inputting the commands needed to close the iris.

Heaving a heavy sigh, Jack gritted his teeth and began the unpleasant trek down the metal stairs, his knees protesting every step of the way. Finally reaching the bottom, Jack tried to school his features, hoping no one would be able to tell he was still experiencing twinges of discomfort. Not for the first time, he marveled at his own ability to ignore the pain in his knees out in the field, but be hopelessly distracted by it when he was supposed to be doing paperwork.

"We're receiving SG-1's IDC sir," Walter informed him. Normally, he would be pointing out that the team dialing in hadn't been heard from since they'd departed four days ago, and had missed a scheduled check-in yesterday morning, but Walter knew there was no need for that in this case. Jack was downright fanatical when it came to keeping track of the details of his former team's missions.

"Open it," Jack commanded tersely. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he waited nervously.

The long seconds that ticked by stretched into minutes and finally, Jack decided that the need to confirm it had really been SG-1 who'd sent the iris code overrode the team's possible need to maintain radio silence in order to escape. Leaning over to reach the microphone on the desk beside Walter, Jack tried several times to raise them on their radios, but all his efforts were without success. After three more failed attempts, Jack straightened up again and ordered the armed guards in the gate room to standby. Protocol dictated that he should be closing the iris right now and waiting for the team to dial in again, at which point he would confirm their identity, but he simply couldn't bring himself to shut the gate down.

Just before the ten-minute mark, a lone figure emerged from the wormhole, walking haltingly down the ramp. Every guard in the room trained their weapons on the arrival, not that she seemed to notice.

"Stand down!" Jack barked before racing down to the gate room, the pain in his knees completely forgotten. His heart was in his throat when he burst into the control room, the sight before him even more horrifying up close.

At the base of the ramp stood Sam, her GDO grasped tightly in her trembling hand. Her once dark green combats were now stained a rich, rust brown colour, the fabric stiff with so much dried blood that the clothing looked to be made of cardboard rather than fabric. Her wide blue eyes stood out in stark contrast to the chalky white of her skin, staring straight past the guards in front of her.

The gate suddenly snapped shut before either Daniel or Teal'c had the chance to appear, drawing the guards' attention away from Sam. Jack, however, couldn't take his eyes off her, needing to get information from her yet worried that she would crumble before him at any moment.

"Carter," Jack tried gently, hoping that his voice would cut through the fog she seemed to be lost in and snap her back to reality. "Can you hear me?"

He waited a few seconds, but Sam gave no indication that she was aware of where she was, let alone who she was with.

"Carter," Jack tried again, taking a few tentative steps forward, relieved when she suddenly turned her attention on him. "It's okay, it's me," he reassured, "Is it okay if I come closer?"

Although she was still watching him, Jack couldn't be sure that she'd really heard him. However, when he was able to take several more steps towards her without her protesting, he decided to take her lack of complaint as consent. Despite the fact that every muscle in his body was screaming at him to get to her as fast as possible, Jack forced himself to move slowly and carefully, approaching Sam as he would a wounded animal.

After what felt like forever, Jack was finally close enough to reach out and touch her. Sam's eyes were now locked on his, though he wasn't completely sure that she hadn't spaced out again. Jack slowly and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, pleased when she didn't jump at the contact.

The sound of approaching footsteps let Jack know that the medical team, paged by Walter as soon as they'd realized Sam was covered in blood, had arrived. Despite the noise, Sam seemed to be as oblivious to their presence as she was to the guards'; all of her attention was focused on Jack.

"Carter," Jack tried again, tilting his head to get a better look at her face.

Still getting no response, Jack fought back his desperate need to know where the other two-thirds of SG-1 was and made a conscious effort to keep his voice calm. Right now, the only person who could tell him where Daniel and Teal'c were looked as though she would fall to pieces if he spoke in much more than a soothing whisper.

"Sam," Jack repeated, squeezing her shoulders gently, "Where are Daniel and Teal'c?"

Whether it was hearing him say her first name, his touch or hearing the names of her teammates, Jack would never know. Whatever the cause, Sam was instantly snapped back to the present.

"Sir," she whispered thickly, her eyes filling with tears that she either wouldn't or couldn't stop from falling.

"Sam, are you okay?" he asked quietly, knowing that if the answer was 'no', the medical team would have to whisk her off to the infirmary and answers about where the rest of SG-1 was would have to wait.

"It's not mine," she choked. Whether she was shuddering from revulsion at being soaked in blood or still trembling from shock, he couldn't say.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack could see one of the guards standing close enough to overhear her response waving off the medical team. He made a mental note to thank the man later.

"Where are Daniel and Teal'c?" Jack asked, failing to keep the urgency out of his voice this time.

"They're dead," she sobbed, her tenuous control shattering. "Oh god, sir, he killed them right in front of me! There was nothing I could do, I tried!"

"Shh," Jack soothed, pulling her shaking form into his arms and cradling her head against his chest.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to keep a tight reign on his emotions, knowing that his own grief would have to wait. Ignoring the lone tear that made its way out from under his clenched eyelid to trail down his cheek, Jack instead focused his attention on calming his friend. His own pain could wait; right now, he needed to be strong for Sam. She hadn't said anything yet, but he had the sickening feeling that the blood covering her belonged to the rest of SG-1.

"Breathe, Carter," he instructed when her sobbing became so violent that she began to hyperventilate. "Take some deep breaths, honey; I need you to calm down or else Doctor Brightman is going to have to come over and sedate you."

Jack could hear her struggling to follow his advice, but her attempts at taking deep breaths were repeatedly foiled by the sobs wracking her body. Casting a quick glance over his shoulder, he could see that, as predicted, Doctor Brightman was starting to get anxious and would be more than happy to intervene if Sam didn't calm down.

"Let's take some deep breaths together, okay?" Jack said quietly, rubbing Sam's back. "Try and match your breathing with mine," he encouraged, hiding his face in the crook of her neck.

With effort, Jack managed to calm his racing heart and exaggerated taking deep, steady breaths. He broke the rhythm only to whisper encouraging words to her. It took several minutes, but Sam eventually managed to regulate her breathing, matching her inhalations and exhalations to his.

"Good girl, that's it," he murmured, repeating the words that had become his mantra.

"They're dead," Sam suddenly whispered into his chest, tears still falling. "We were captured by Ba'al and he killed them right in front of me. Then his Jaffa brought me back to the gate, dialed Earth and handed me my GDO."

"Carter," Jack said gently, knowing he needed to ask the question, but aware that if it sounded to her like he was making accusations, she'd fall apart all over again. "I don't understand: why would Ba'al let you go?"

"I didn't tell him anything!" Sam snapped suddenly, trying with all her might to pull away. "I would never…"

"I know you didn't," he soothed, kicking himself for not handling this whole mess better. Tightening his hold on her straining body, Jack thanked his lucky stars that she was still in shock, otherwise he had no doubt that she would have been able to break away. "I meant, did he tell you why he was letting you go?"

"He thought it was funny," Sam choked, ceasing her struggles and gripping his shirt tightly with both hands. "Funnier if you knew he was the one…"

"Shh, that's enough for now," Jack assured her, knowing that Brightman's patience wouldn't last much longer. "We need to get you taken care of; the rest can wait until later. Is it all right if Doctor Brightman comes over here with a gurney?

"Don't leave me," Sam whispered tiredly, desperation lacing her words, her fists tightening their hold on his shirt.

"I'm not going anywhere," he promised, bringing a hand up to cradle the back of her head. "Is it okay if…"

"I want to be able to touch you," she insisted.

"I'll hold your hand the whole time," Jack bargained. He understood the fear that always accompanied returning home from a truly horrifying mission, needing constant reassurance that you were really back and not still trapped in the nightmare.

Sam frantically shook her head, her heart racing at the idea of him being even that far away.

"Okay, okay, relax, I'm not going to leave," Jack replied quickly, trying to stop her from getting herself more worked up. He had no doubt that if Sam started to hyperventilate again, Brightman would swoop in and cart her off to the infirmary. The state she was in now, Jack was afraid of what that kind of handling would do to her.

"Sir," Doctor Brightman, called quietly, "I need to get Colonel Carter to the infirmary right..."

"Doctor!" Jack interrupted sharply, making Sam jump and tense up. "It's okay, Carter, you're safe," he reminded, tucking her head under his chin and rubbing her back in bigger circles.

"Here's what we're going to do," Jack decided, speaking loud enough for his voice to carry to Doctor Brightman but still maintaining a soothing tone for Sam's benefit. "We'll go down to the infirmary together and I'll stay with you while you get checked out. Once Brightman has finished her exam, we'll decide where to go from there. I don't want you trying to walk down there though, Carter; is it okay if someone brings a gurney over?'

"Carry me," Sam suggested wearily, not wanting enough distance between her and Jack that someone could rip him away from her too. Not that being close to them had enabled her to save Daniel and Teal'c…

"Okay," Jack agreed, de-railing her train of thought. He wasn't sure which one of them was more surprised by his acceptance of the idea.

Wrapping an arm securely around her shoulders, Jack bent just enough to be able to slide his other arm under her knees. Straightening, he tucked her head under his chin again and turned to face the other people in the room, his glare challenging any of them to judge either him or Sam based on what had transpired in the wake of Daniel and Teal'c's deaths. To his surprise, the faces he saw were filled with sympathy and, at least from those who'd known Daniel and Teal'c beyond being able to pick them out in the corridor, genuine sadness.

Nodding his appreciation, Jack headed for the door, the only other surviving member of his former team cradled in his arms.


	2. Chapter 2

**Perception**

"You're doing great, Carter," Jack encouraged quietly from his perch beside her on the bed, giving her hand a supportive squeeze.

For her part, Sam was doing her best not to flinch away from Brightman's probing hands. She was mostly succeeding, although that was not to say that every touch didn't make her skin crawl or start her heart racing.

Upon arriving in the infirmary, Doctor Brightman had instructed Sam to change out of her blood soaked fatigues and into an infirmary gown. However, it had soon become apparent that the blood had stiffened the fabric too much, and her clothing was stuck to too much of her skin to be removed easily. In the end, Sam had been persuaded to leave Jack long enough to shower, stripping off her clothing as the water slowly rinsed the blood out of each item. Standing under the spray of the hot water, Sam had watched in morbid fascination as Teal'c and Daniel's blood had swirled around the bottom of the shower, a never-ending red whirlpool forming around the drain. It was only when Jack had called in to check on her that she had realized how much time she'd spent watching her friends' blood drain away.

"Sir, may I have a word?" Brightman asked, pulling her gloves off and shooting a reassuring smile in Sam's direction.

Squeezing Sam's knee gently, Jack stood and followed the doctor to the far end of the infirmary, out of earshot of the other personnel working there. Glancing over his shoulder every few seconds to make eye contact with Sam, Jack only half-listened to the doctor as she explained her findings.

"… But I would like to sedate her," Brightman concluded, drawing Jack's full attention back to her.

"No," he replied firmly. "That's not open for debate."

"Sir, with all due respect, she is exhausted and, based on her behaviour in the gate room, I think we can both agree that she's not going to fall asleep on her own."

"She hates to be drugged," Jack argued. "And after the last few days she's had, she's going to want to know she can wake up from the nightmares anytime – that can't happen when she's sedated. And believe me doc, there's no dosage of sedatives that will keep her from having nightmares right now."

"She _needs_ rest and, quite frankly, she's not going to get it if she _can _wake up from her nightmares. Sir, it's in Colonel Carter's best interest," Brightman insisted.

Sighing, Jack conceded that the doctor was right. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Jack cast another glance over his shoulder, finding Sam nervously watching his furtive conversation with Brightman. Holding up one finger in her direction, Jack turned his attention back to the woman standing before him.

"Let me talk to her. When we're ready, I'll let you know, but I don't want to see a single needle before I call you over," Jack bargained, knowing that if Sam thought she was being forced under sedation, her breakdown in the gate room would be just the tip of the iceberg.

Heading back over to the bed, Jack sat down beside Sam and gripped the hand that shot out to grab hold of him. Stroking his thumb soothingly over the back of her knuckles, Jack contemplated the best way to broach the subject with her.

"You're cleared," Jack began slowly. "She wants you to eat a couple of good-sized meals and get plenty of rest though."

Nodding her head to show she'd understood, Sam moved to hop off the bed. All she wanted to do was hole up in her quarters and cry her eyes out, but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her progress before she'd gotten very far.

"Carter, I don't want you to be alone right now, and deep down, I don't really think you want to be alone either. I want to stay with you, but there are some things I really have to do, you understand that, right?" When he received a nod, Jack continued, "You need rest, but you shouldn't have to deal with nightmares, not yet. Doctor Brightman thinks it would be a good idea to give you something to help you sleep for a few hours, and I think she's right."

"Sir, no, please, I don't want…"

"Even a few hours of sleep will do you a world of good, Carter," Jack reasoned, appealing to her logical side. "You'll be able to rest without nightmares, I'll be able to make the calls I need to make, and I can be back here before you wake up."

"Will you really come back?"

"Absolutely."

Thinking things over for a few moments, Sam decided that his proposal made sense. She hadn't slept since Ba'al had captured her team four days ago, and the possibility of escaping the horrors she'd been subjected to during her imprisonment was enticing. But a big part of her was terrified at the idea of being left alone, even for a few hours.

"Okay," Sam finally agreed, sliding up the bed to lean back against the raised mattress. "I'll let Brightman give me something, but only enough to put me out for a few hours."

"Good girl," Jack murmured, grabbing the blanket that lay across the foot of the bed and spreading it over her. Nodding at Doctor Brightman that it was all right to approach, Jack grasped Sam's hand again, squeezing reassuringly.

"I'm going to give you just enough to put you out for eight hours," the doctor explained, flicking the needle in her hand to remove any air bubbles that might be in it.

"And I'll be back in seven," Jack promised, relieved to see a ghost of a smile cross Sam's face, if only for a moment.

"Someone needs to tell…"

"I'll call Cassie in an hour or two, I don't want to wake her up with this," he interrupted.

"If you wake up sooner and you need something, just let us know Colonel," Brightman instructed, easily sliding the needle into a vein in her patient's arm. Once the syringe was empty, she pulled the curtain around the bed completely closed and left, giving Jack and Sam a few minutes of privacy before Sam drifted off.

Sliding further up the bed, Jack stroked Sam's hair back from her face, watching as the sedative worked its magic and she slowly began to relax.

"I don't want you to worry about it now," Jack said quietly, "but we'll probably have to do a de-briefing sooner rather than later."

"I know," Sam sighed, feeling the tug of sleep pulling at her as the sedative began to take hold. "I'm sorry I haven't told you more,"

"You were in shock, Carter," he reminded. "You did what you could, and the rest we can take care of later. Right now, you just worry about getting some rest."

"Yes, sir," Sam mumbled, her eyes bobbing open and shut several times before they stayed closed.

"I'll be back in a few hours," Jack promised again, although he seriously doubted that she could hear him anymore. Standing, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Then, knowing he had a lot to do and only a few hours to do it all in, he turned and left the infirmary.

Once out in the hallway, he released the tight reign he'd held on his emotions since Sam had informed him that Daniel and Teal'c were dead. Turning abruptly, Jack smashed his fist into the nearest wall as hard as he could. Pulling his hand back, he examined the patches of broken skin and rapidly swelling knuckles with indifference. Hitting the wall hadn't helped anyone, he decided, but the pain in his hand had managed to distract him from the pain in his heart, at least for a moment.

Deciding that phone calls could wait, Jack switched directions and headed for the gym. Right now, he really needed to beat the hell out of something.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Just a warning, this is the _really_ dark chapter – Sam explains what happened to Daniel and Teal'c. I don't think it's too graphic, but still, I figure it's only fair to give you a heads up.

**Perception**

"We stepped through the gate and everything seemed fine," Sam said quietly, aware that the microphone on the video camera currently pointed at her might have difficulty picking up her words, but not trusting her own voice to speak any louder. "All my readings matched what had been sent back by the MALP, and there were no indications that the gate had been used recently."

Jack nodded encouragingly from across the briefing room table, hating that the presence of the camera prevented him from being near her. He had done these types of de-briefings himself more often than he liked to remember, and he knew for a fact that they were never easy. Given that Sam was being asked to explain the events leading up to the deaths of not just her team, but the people she considered family, he could only imagine how difficult this would be for her.

"The DHD was intact, so we dialed Earth and returned the MALP, as usual. There was still nothing to indicate any recent activity, Goa'uld or otherwise, on the planet, so I gave the order to move out. Teal'c took point and I covered our six as we headed out for the ruins Daniel was interested in."

Pausing, Sam reached for the glass of water before her and took a small sip, thankful for the excuse to stop talking, if only for a few moments. Taking a deep breath, she placed the glass back on the table and continued.

"We'd gone maybe eight clicks, when we found ourselves surrounded by Jaffa. At first we thought they'd been lying in wait for weeks, hoping a team from the SGC would stumble across the planet, but later we learned that we'd tripped a sensor near the gate that warned Ba'al we were there, leading him to dispatch a Jaffa patrol to the planet."

"What happened after you were captured?" Jack probed. He needed answers to satisfy his own needs as much as the Pentagon's.

"We were outnumbered six to one, so I ordered Daniel and Teal'c to surrender," Sam replied. This time, her voice caught on their names. "The Jaffa took us to their hat'ak and locked us in the cargo bay. They'd removed all our gear, but I'd estimate that we were kept in there for approximately nine hours, although the ship was only moving for a fraction of that time. When we were finally released, we learned that we'd been taken to Ba'al's mothership. I'm not sure where it was, but given time, I might be able to estimate its location..."

"We'll talk about that later," Jack interjected, knowing that Sam was likely to start doing the necessary calculations right away, if only to delay having to discuss the mission any further.

"The Jaffa brought us before Ba'al, and he did the usual spiel. After gloating for a while, he ordered the Jaffa to throw us into a cell. We tried, but we couldn't find a way out, so we had no choice but to wait and see what Ba'al wanted from us. Not long after we were put in the cell, four Jaffa came to collect Daniel and Teal'c," Sam recited, her eyes squeezed shut. She knew if she looked at Jack now, she would fall apart and the briefing would have to be continued later on, once she'd had time to calm down. More than anything, Sam wanted this to be over so that she would never, ever have to tell another soul what had happened on this fateful mission.

"Was this still the first day?" Jack asked, needing at least a vague idea of the timeline of the story.

"Yes, sir."

"Colonel, what happened once the other members of your team were taken away?" He hated himself for sounding so clinical, as though the people in question hadn't been his best friends, but Jack knew that the only way either one of them would be able to get through the de-briefing was by keeping it as impersonal as possible.

"Nothing."

"What do you mean 'nothing'?"

"Nothing happened for two days, sir. The Jaffa never returned Teal'c or Daniel to the cell, and they never came for me. I was left alone for two days, and during that time, I had no contact with anyone."

"Not even someone bringing food or water?"

"No, sir," Sam responded, pausing again for another sip of water. "When someone finally did come, they brought me to Ba'al's main chamber. They chained me up to a wall, low, so that I had no choice but to sit," the tremor in her voice gave away what happened next: this was the part when Ba'al killed the others right in front of her.

"Take your time," Jack empathized, once again cursing the camera. The only good thing about this de-briefing was that the President had taken his side against the Joint Chiefs, agreeing that having Jack alone de-brief Sam would be sufficient for a record of the mission.

"They brought Teal'c first," Sam said, feeling the prick of tears as she recalled what had come next. "Two Jaffa held his arms while a third broke his neck," she continued thickly, the tears rolling freely down her cheeks.

"He was still alive, they made sure of that, but he was paralyzed. Ba'al ordered them to lay him down beside me and put his head on my lap. They were careful," she recalled, shuddering at the memory of her friend's warm brown eyes staring up at her, completely helpless and unable to move in the slightest. "They left then. I don't know how long it was before they came back; it felt like forever. When they returned, Ba'al…"

Sam stopped abruptly, the sentence ending with a shuddering sob.

Seeing her so upset, knowing how cruelly Ba'al had killed Teal'c and no doubt Daniel too, it was all Jack could do not to throw something. After only a moment's hesitation he decided that he didn't give a damn about the camera, all he cared about was Sam. Getting out of his chair, Jack stepped around the table and sat down again in the seat beside hers. Resting his hand on her shoulder, he tried to offer her what comfort he could.

Forcing herself to take several deep breaths, Sam calmed herself enough to continue, though tears were still tracing their way down her cheeks.

"Ba'al crouched down beside us and slit Teal'c's throat," she confessed, feeling the horror and outrage that were radiating off Jack in waves. "They left again, and I had no choice but to sit there, Teal'c's head on my lap, in a puddle of his blood. He was so cold by the time they came back," she murmured, trailing off, lost in the memory.

"Sam," Jack prompted gently, squeezing her shoulder and trying to bring her back to the present, "What did they do when they came back?"

"They brought Daniel," she breathed, her haunted eyes meeting his for the first time since the de-briefing had started. "They dragged Teal'c a few feet away, letting Daniel see that he was dead. He tried to talk to me," Sam recalled sadly, "but I was in shock, I… It was my last chance to ever talk to him and I just sat there!"

"Daniel understood," Jack soothed, giving her shoulder another comforting squeeze.

"They did the same thing to Daniel, but it was so much worse seeing it for the second time," Sam choked. "We both knew what was going to happen in the end."

"Did they break Daniel's neck?" he questioned, his voice cracking as thoughts of what his friend's final moments must have been like raced through his mind.

"And then laid his head on my lap and left," Sam confirmed. "He was trying so hard to be strong for me," she whispered, remembering the bright blue eyes that had held her own for what would, to her, always feel like both an eternity and not nearly long enough.

"And when they came back…"

"Ba'al slit his throat, and left again," she sobbed, not caring that her breaking down would be an official part of the record of this mission for the rest of time. "They left me with his body for a while, I don't know…"

"Carter," Jack prompted, "what happened once Ba'al and his Jaffa came back?"

"Ba'al borrowed a zat from one of the Jaffa and shot their bodies three times each," she replied, sounding more like a robot now than a woman grieving for the loss of two friends. Not realizing how her words had dashed his hopes that a sarcophagus had revived Teal'c and Daniel, she plunged on. "He ordered the Jaffa to take me back to the planet they'd found us on and to make sure I made it back to Earth. They took me back to the hat'ak and locked me in the cargo bay again."

"What happened when you made it back to the planet?"

"They set down right at the gate, dialed Earth and handed me the GDO."

"You came through almost 10 minutes after you sent your IDC, Carter – what happened during that time?"

"I don't know," she replied. "The Jaffa left as soon as the gate was open. I remember standing at the base of the steps for a minute…."

"You were in shock," Jack reminded softly, "Your perception of time was off; you probably stood there for longer than you realize."

"The next thing I really remember is standing in the gate room and you asking me where Daniel and Teal'c were," she concluded, reaching for her water and the previously untouched box of Kleenexes on the table.

"Is there anything else you can remember, anything at all?" Jack inquired, knowing that the brass wouldn't be satisfied with the tape if he didn't appear to give her the opportunity to change her mind or provide additional information.

"No, sir," she replied, wiping her nose. She knew he needed to ask for the camera's sake, but more than anything, she wanted him to turn the damn camera off and give her another one of those warm, tight hugs she'd come to depend on since returning to Earth early yesterday morning.

"All right Colonel, you did very well here," Jack sighed heavily, wrapping up the de-briefing so he could stop recording. "I know this wasn't easy for you to discuss so soon after this tragedy. I'll let you know if we need any more information from you. Dismissed," he concluded stiffly, his own emotions getting the better of him.

"Yes, sir," Sam intoned, playing her role for the camera. Standing, she stepped out of frame and waited for Jack to press the stop button.

When the red record light blinked out, Sam stepped closer and wrapped her arms around him, his own arms snaking around her waist. Holding one another tightly, Jack finally appreciated exactly how much Sam had been through in the last few days. Yet again, he found himself marveling at the strength she possessed. He was pretty sure that if he'd been in her position, he would have been begging to be sedated into oblivion for the rest of his life, not giving a de-briefing less than 48 hours after returning home.

"I couldn't help them," she whispered tearfully. "I couldn't do anything for them; I couldn't even try to get out of the chains, in case I moved them the wrong way and it killed them. Not that it really mattered in the end."

"You did the most important thing you could possibly do, given the circumstances," Jack replied, resting his cheek on top of her head, blinking rapidly to try and clear his watery vision. "You were there for them when they needed you the most. And you know what else?"

"What?" she sniffed.

"You survived," he stated simply. "To Daniel and Teal'c, that would have been the most important thing in the world."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Yay! You're still reading even after I was so horrible to Daniel and Teal'c in the last chapter! From this point on, things start to get lighter, I promise! I do need to warn you though: Pete is mentioned in this chapter. I haven't written him as Mr. Wonderful, but I haven't written him as the devil incarnate either. All you Pete-Haters out there, bear with me. He doesn't actually show up in this story, honest!

**Perception**

Leaning back in his chair, Jack allowed his mind to wander while Lieutenant Carson prattled on about the moon rocks his team had discovered on their last mission. Jack had heard enough to know that the rocks didn't _do_ anything or have any interesting (to him, anyway) properties, so he couldn't figure out what the fuss was all about. Trying to keep a mildly interested expression on his face, Jack's thoughts turned to recent events, reflecting on how his world had been turned upside down.

It had been two weeks since Sam had stepped through the gate saying that Teal'c and Daniel had been killed by Ba'al. The days that followed were a bit of a blur for Jack, filled as they were with phone calls to Washington, wormholes to various Free Jaffa strongholds in search of Bra'tac and Ry'ac, a lot of tears from both Sam and Cassandra, and his own pain at the loss of his friends.

A well-attended memorial service had been held last week, where Jack had delivered a heart-felt speech in honour of his fallen friends. Although he had offered to let Sam speak at the service, she had declined; the memories of their deaths were still too fresh. Following the service, he had opened his house up for a wake, uncomfortably aware that this was the second time he'd hosted one for Daniel. Although both men would be truly missed by the base personnel, it was an awkward fact that life moved on, and most at the SGC were slowly adapting to the fact that Daniel and Teal'c weren't going to be miraculously rising from the dead this time.

The President and the Joint Chiefs, though initially quite sympathetic to the horrors Sam had witnessed, were getting impatient to fill the empty positions on SG-1 and put the team back in rotation. Jack was now receiving daily phone calls on the matter, and he knew his standard reply of 'she's not ready yet' was wearing thin for his superiors.

However, anyone who observed Sam's behaviour for any length of time could see that she truly wasn't prepared to return to active duty. She had started dropping by his office every few hours, always under the pretense of needing his signature on something or sharing some scientific finding with him, but Jack knew she was simply looking for excuses to see him. He'd reminded her on numerous occasions that she didn't need a reason, but clearly her own stubborn pride said otherwise.

If the screams that echoed through the hallways around her quarters every night were anything to judge by, Jack was certain that Sam was plagued by vivid nightmares, revisiting the deaths of Daniel and Teal'c in her sleep. Knowing how much she disliked the base psychiatrist, Jack had made many offers to bring in someone other than MacKenzie to discuss what had happened, and even offered his own ear to bend, but Sam had refused, attending exactly the number of sessions with MacKenzie that the Air Force required before she stopped going.

For Jack though, the most obvious sign that Sam wasn't ready to be back out in the field was her reaction to anything sharp. She had stopped using knives to prepare or eat her food, cleared her lab of all cutting tools, given all her bladed garden implements to charity and even thrown out the plastic letter opener in her lab. The few times she had been unexpectedly confronted with a sharp object – a sheathed knife on a member of an SG team kitted out for a mission, or a tray of scalpels wheeled past her in the infirmary – Sam had experienced panic attacks and would only allow a few select people to approach her to calm her down. As far as Jack knew, only he, Reynolds and Siler had been able to get near her without making things worse. Even then, she calmed for Jack faster than she did for anyone else, which had made him reluctant to ever be more than a minute or two away from her.

All in all, it was painfully obvious to everyone at the SGC that Sam wasn't ready to go off-world again.

Not that Jack's superiors were being reckless. He had thus far failed to mention the panic attacks to anyone besides General Hammond, knowing that if they continued for longer than the Air Force deemed acceptable, Sam's role as an active field officer could be jeopardized. To Jack, that was totally unacceptable; if and when she felt ready to return to field duty, he wanted the option to be available to her.

Shifting in his chair, Jack's thoughts turned to Pete Shanahan, Sam's fiancé. Initially, the other man had been very understanding of her unusual and sometimes erratic behaviour. He hadn't complained when she insisted on sleeping at the SGC every night or when she'd exploded at him for forgetting not to set out knives at dinner once. Pete had even been willing to call Jack when Sam experienced a panic attack at home, accepting that the bond of trust between the two allowed Jack to calm her when Pete himself couldn't. But after two weeks, Pete's patience was wearing out. He was becoming more insistent that Sam at least _try_ to spend a night in her own bed, and the couple now fought about the matter on a daily basis. Jack had spoken to Pete several times, reminding him that no one could really understand what Sam had been through and that she needed the support of everyone around her, but Jack wouldn't be surprised if the phone calls from Pete stopped coming any day now. Jack just hoped that a break-up wouldn't push Sam past her breaking point.

Seeing Lieutenant Carson begin shuffling his papers snapped Jack back to the de-briefing. The younger man was wrapping up and after getting assurances that the full report on the moon rocks would be on his desk by the end of the week (oh joy), Jack dismissed the team. Standing and stretching, he cast a quick glance at the clock by the stairs and noted that he was due for a visit from Sam in another hour or two. Deciding that he would be the one to drop by and see her this time, he set out for her lab.

He hadn't made it very far from the briefing room before the klaxons started wailing. Jack did a quick 180 and jogged the short distance to the control room, confident that no teams were due back now. He arrived just as the event horizon stabilized, nodding to the personnel already in the room.

"What have we got Walter?"

"Sir, we're receiving an IDC, it's the Tok'ra."

"Open it," Jack instructed, wincing.

They'd tried and failed to track down the Tok'ra in the last two weeks, completely unable to contact anyone who could tell them how to get in touch with Jacob. The worry for her father, Jack knew, had been compounding the emotional turmoil Sam was already experiencing. As much as he liked Jacob, right now Jack wanted to see him step through the gate alive and well simply because it would be one less thing for his daughter to have to cope with.

To Jack's relief, it _was_ Jacob who stepped through the gate, although that relief was short-lived when two more people emerged from the gate behind him. Instantly, every weapon in the gate room came up and took aim at one of the two individuals. Seemingly unbothered, Jacob stepped protectively between the gate room guards and his companions.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" Jack barked before turning on his heel and high-tailing it down to the gate room.

"Jack…" the older man began as soon as Jack burst into the gate room.

"Do they have any weapons on them?" Jack interrupted, thrusting his chin toward the people traveling with Jacob.

"None. But Jack, there's something we need to talk about right away…"

"And we've been trying to do that for the last two weeks, now get out of the way. Put them in separate holding cells and search them thoroughly," Jack ordered the guards.

"Jack…" the first man said carefully, trying to explain.

"Don't!" he growled angrily. "We know you're not them."

"You need to hear what he has to say," Jacob interrupted, uncomfortable standing before a group of men aiming guns at him now that they were starting to grow restless, but still unwilling to move out of their line of fire.

"Damn it, Jacob!" Jack hollered, overwhelmed with anger and hurt. "Daniel and Teal'c are _dead_! Your daughter watched Ba'al kill them and zat their bodies _three times_! _These people_ are _not_ them!"

"Sam _did _see Ba'al kill them Jack, but she didn't see him kill the _real_ Teal'c and Daniel," Jacob countered, trying to remain calm despite being faced with Jack's rage.

"What?"

"Colonel Carter witnessed Ba'al kill our clones, O'Neill," Teal'c replied, his deep baritone filling the gate room.

"And we witnessed Sam witnessing their deaths," Daniel added, his haunted eyes meeting Jack's.

It only took Jack a second to make up his mind.

"Briefing room, now."


	5. Chapter 5

**Perception**

"When Ba'al took us from the cell, he took us to be cloned," Daniel explained tiredly. "When the process was done, he took us back to another cell. He wanted Sam to believe that the clones were really us."

"We've been here before," Jack said dryly. He refused to be tricked into believing his friends were alive, only to learn later on that these two were imposters and the real Daniel and Teal'c were still dead. "You can't clone a fully grown human and have the clone be… _created_ as an adult, it has to grow up."

"Ba'al found a way," Jacob piped up. "We think he got the idea from the Asgaard, but our resources are stretched too thin right now to divert any manpower to finding out how he managed it."

"What happened after he put you back in a cell?" Jack asked, neither accepting nor discounting Jacob's explanation.

"We were left alone for several hours, during which time we were unable to escape," Teal'c replied, anger rolling off him in waves. "Some time later, several Jaffa came with a Goa'uld visual communication device."

"The broadcasting ball was in Ba'al's main chamber, where he had Sam chained up," Daniel added, studying the tabletop in order to avoid having to meet anyone's eyes. "We saw everything they did to the clones… Sam…" Daniel's voice cracked and he swallowed hard before continuing, "Every time Ba'al left Sam, he'd come to us."

"What did he want?" Jack asked. Against his better judgment, he was starting to believe that maybe somehow these two people were telling the truth and they really were the friends he believed to be dead.

"To gloat," Teal'c growled.

"He had fun torturing and killing the clones," Daniel elaborated. "But mostly he enjoyed watching Sam, Teal'c and I watch each other's suffering, or supposed suffering, in Sam's case."

"He had the three of you for four days, and he didn't try to get _any_ information out of any of you?" Jack inquired, disbelievingly.

"He did not."

"What happened after Ba'al zatted the clones?"

"The transmission was stopped. We don't know what happened to Sam; we never saw her again." Daniel murmured, looking up. "What did they…"

"After zatting the bodies, Ba'al ordered his Jaffa to take her back to planet she was captured on," Jack replied, choosing his words carefully. The fact that he said the planet 'she' and not 'you' were captured on didn't escape the notice of anyone at the table. "They dropped her at the gate, dialed Earth, gave her the GDO and left."

"Is she okay?"

"You apparently saw what she went through, how the hell is she supposed to be _okay_?" Jack snarled.

"I believe Daniel Jackson intended to inquire about Colonel Carter's physical health," Teal'c clarified calmly.

"They didn't lay a hand on her," Jack snapped. "We're supposed to be discussing you," he reminded harshly, regretting his tone when he saw Daniel flinch.

"They left us alone in the cell for a while; we don't know for how long, but I would guess it was no more than a few hours," Daniel replied, examining the tabletop once more.

"When the cell door opened again, Jacob Carter and Selmac freed us and we retreated to the glider bay," Teal'c added, continuing the story.

"One of our operatives had managed to infiltrate Ba'al's inner circle a few months ago," Jacob spoke up. "When he learned that Ba'al had captured SG-1, he bypassed the High Council and sent word straight to me; he knew I would go with or without permission from the Council, so he saved some time by sending the intel directly to me."

"You trust him?"

"The host has been with the Tok'ra for twice as long as I've been alive, and Selmac can vouch for the symbiote."

"What did the message say?"

"That SG-1 had been captured and that Ba'al had found a way clone Teal'c and Daniel, but he planned to kill the clones and keep the originals alive. He also gave me their location."

"And based on this information, you decided to launch a rescue mission single-handed?" Jack asked, unable to keep the skepticism out of his voice.

"We're talking about my _daughter_, Jack. And I like you two, of course," Jacob added, nodding at Daniel and Teal'c. "If you'd had the same information, can you honestly tell me you wouldn't have done exactly what I did?" he demanded, turning his attention back to Jack.

"No," the younger man admitted grudgingly.

"We took gliders to a nearby planet, where I had a hat'ak hidden. The hyper-drive was more or less shot after the trip there. We've spent the last week and a half trying to make it to the closest Goa'uld-free planet; the hyper-drive was only good for short intervals and it needed long cool-down periods between jumps," Jacob finished.

"Why did you leave without Carter?" Jack asked suspiciously. He knew Jacob well enough to know that there was no way in hell he would have left his daughter in Ba'al's hands.

"While we were escaping, we met up with the Tok'ra operative. He told us Ba'al had let her go," Daniel explained, knowing where Jack's train of thought was headed.

"Do you not believe us, O'Neill?" Teal'c questioned, no trace of accusation in his words, rather a genuine curiosity as to his friend's reaction to their tale.

"I want to," Jack sighed, pushing back from the table. "But that's the exact reason I have to be suspicious; my judgment here is compromised by the fact that I want to believe you're both still alive."

"For the record, Jack, I've been grilling the two of them the whole trip home. As far as I can tell, all of their information is accurate. Events, information about Earth, your allies, themselves, you, Sam, hell, even me! I believe that it really is them, and Selmac backs me up."

"I want both of you to head to the infirmary, under guard," Jack decided. "You're not to stop and talk to anyone, and you're to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Do the best you can to avoid being spotted, and that includes while you're in the infirmary. Are we clear?"

"You don't want Sam seeing us if it turns out we're lying," Daniel guessed.

"Can you blame me?"

"No," Teal'c replied.

"Jacob can you wait in my office?"

"I was hoping I could go see Sam right away."

"Sorry, but not until we've confirmed that these two are who they say they are," seeing that Jacob was about to argue, Jack added, "I'm just trying to protect her, Jacob."

Nodding at the guards waiting quietly in the back corner of the room, Jack stood up and headed into his office. Through the window, he could see Daniel and Teal'c being led away, one of the guards having the presence of mind to put hats on the two of them and pull them down low enough to obscure their faces somewhat.

"How has she been, really?" Jacob inquired quietly from the doorway.

"She's devastated," Jack sighed, scrubbing a hand through his already unruly hair. "She wants everyone to believe she's fine, but she's not fooling anyone. The only people she really talks to right now are me and Pete."

"Pete?"

"Her fiancé."

"Her what?!?!?!"

"Oops."


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: It's all up from here on out!

**Perception**

Thanking Doctor Brightman, Jack watched her leave his office before turning his attention to the briefing room. Through the window, he could see Daniel and Teal'c sitting around the table, each lost in thought.

Over the last few hours, Doctor Brightman had run every test she could think of, each one confirming what previous tests had said: the two men who came through the gate with Jacob were indeed Daniel Jackson and Teal'c, both of SG-1. DNA tests had confirmed their identities, while a collection of assorted X-rays, MRIs, CAT scans and blood work had confirmed that each one had the same assortment of healed injuries and wacky blood work that this reality's Daniel and Teal'c had collected over the years. Moreover, a careful visual inspection had found that the variety of scars the two men bore matched perfectly with those that their own Daniel and Teal'c had. After consulting with Bill Lee, Brightman had concluded that the odds of two individuals from two separate realities repeatedly sustaining identical injuries with identical trauma in identical areas were astronomical. The odds of it happening with two sets of individuals were virtually incalculable. As far as Brightman was concerned, the two people sitting out in the briefing room really were their Daniel and Teal'c.

Brightman had sat in on Jack's call to the President, repeating her findings for him, and then again for the Joint Chiefs. In the end, everyone concluded that SG-1's luck had miraculously held out yet again; somehow Teal'c and Daniel were alive.

Getting up, Jack headed out into the briefing room and dismissed the guards.

"Does this mean you believe us?" Daniel asked, getting to his feet.

"Me, the President and the Joint Chiefs," Jack said with a smile. "Welcome home guys," he added, throwing his arms open and grabbing Daniel up in a bear hug.

"It's good to _be_ home," Daniel replied, returning the hug.

"T, you're starting to give Danny Boy a run for his money in the resurrection department," Jack teased, releasing the younger man and turning his attention to his other friend.

"Indeed, O'Neill," Teal'c deadpanned, "Someone must keep Daniel Jackson from becoming complacent."

With a laugh, Jack gave Teal'c a hug too. He savoured the moment of levity, knowing that it would be shattered all too soon.

"What about Sam?" Daniel asked quietly, just as Jack had expected.

"She doesn't know yet, about any of it," Jack sighed, stepping back from Teal'c. "I'm going to call her into my office and explain. All things considered, I think it would be best if you guys wait out here while I talk to her."

"Given the circumstances surrounding our apparent demise, that would be most wise, O'Neill."

"She might not want to see you right away," Jack warned, fearing how they might react to the idea.

"We know," Daniel assured. "We know exactly what she went through, Jack. If she isn't ready to see us yet, we'll understand. As much as we want to see her, we won't push her."

"I know you won't."

"Where's Jacob?" Daniel asked, only just noticing that the other man was missing. Come to think of it, they hadn't seen Jacob since being escorted to the infirmary under armed guard several hours ago.

"Uh… Selmac took him on a little walk to calm him down."

"Why?"

"I may have said something I shouldn't have."

"About what have you spoken _now_, O'Neill?"

"Carter getting engaged."

"Oops."

"That's what I said."


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Someone actually made it to the final chapter, even after I was so mean to our beloved team? Woohoo! Thanks for reading!

**Perception**

"Sir," Sam said nervously, poking her head around the doorframe, "You wanted to see me?"

"Come on in and close the door," Jack said gently, not looking forward to this conversation.

"Is everything all right, sir?"

"Sit down, Carter."

Worried about what was to come, Sam plopped down in the nearest chair. Her worry increased when Jack got up and moved around his desk to sit in the chair beside her. Watching him warily, she noted that he seemed lighter than he had in the last two weeks, as if a load had been lifted off his shoulders, but at the same time, he seemed tense.

"Some people came through the gate this afternoon, making some pretty wild claims about their identities," Jack began, trying to broach the subject carefully without dancing around the issue. As far as he was concerned, the sooner Sam learned Daniel and Teal'c weren't really dead, the better.

"After speaking with them, running a whole lot of medical tests and speaking with Doctor Lee about the possibility of alternate realities, we've managed to confirm that they are who they claim to be, and that they belong in this reality."

"Sir, who were they?"

Taking a deep breath, Jack dropped the bombshell on her: "Daniel and Teal'c."

"No, I saw them," Sam said vehemently, standing up so quickly she knocked her chair over. "I saw them, I _felt_ them die! I watched their bodies disintegrate, there's no way…"

"Sam, I wouldn't tell you this if I wasn't _absolutely _sure they were our Daniel and Teal'c," Jack soothed, standing as well. Grasping her shoulders, he caught her gaze and held it. "It's our Daniel and Teal'c, Sam, I swear."

"How can you be sure?" she asked quietly, not willing to believe him only to have her world fall apart again if it turned out he was wrong.

"Beyond the medical proof, they know _everything_ our Teal'c and Daniel should know about _everything_ they should know about. They know things that no imposter could have thought to ask them for, right down to the colour of Jell-o you like and the fact that there are no fish in my pond," Jack explained. "Plus, when I'm with them, I can _feel_ it; they're _our _Daniel and Teal'c."

"Ba'al zatted them three times, nothing could bring them back from that," Sam argued. She knew what she'd seen; she was positive that her version of that last mission was accurate, so how could what Jack was telling her be possible?

"Ba'al made adult clones somehow. We think he used Asgaard technology to do it, but we can't be sure."

"Sir, I want to believe they're still alive as much as you do…" Sam said sadly, shaking her head.

"They saw what Ba'al did to you," Jack interrupted. "He let the real ones watch the whole thing. Sam, they know details that there is no way they could possibly know if they weren't there."

"Why would Ba'al go to all this trouble? What did he stand to gain?"

"As far as we can figure, Ba'al needed you to believe that Teal'c and Daniel were dead with no chance of resurrection so that when he released you, you would come home and convince us that they were gone for good. Then he would be able to torture the originals for information about the Free Jaffa and the Ancients for as long as he wanted, without having to worry about the SGC staging a rescue mission," Jack reasoned, sharing the conclusions he had drawn. "We think the… 'fun' he had putting you through hell was an added bonus for him, not his main goal."

Sam stood silently, staring intently into his eyes. She was searching for some clue that he had doubts about what he was telling her. Try as she might, she couldn't find any trace of skepticism, just honest to goodness belief that their dead friends were still alive.

"How did they get out?" she asked hesitantly, starting to believe that maybe he was telling her the truth after all.

"A Tok'ra operative in Ba'al's court sent word to your father when you were all captured. Dad staged a jail break, but Ba'al had already sent you home, so he sprung Daniel and Teal'c. They've been trying to make it home on a damaged hat'ak for the last week and a half."

"My dad's okay?" she asked hopefully, sagging with relief when Jack nodded. "Does he believe it's our Daniel and Teal'c?" Another nod. "And you really believe it?" A third nod. Sam couldn't stop the tears that sprang to her eyes.

"C'mere," Jack murmured, pulling her in for a hug, relieved that she was convinced. He bit back a smile when her arms squeezed him tightly, reveling in the fact that they were sharing a hug under happy circumstances for once; there had been far too many teary embraces in the last few weeks.

Hiding her face in his shoulder, Sam took a few deep breaths, trying to overcome the urge to bawl. With some effort, she succeeded, though when she raised her head again, her cheeks were streaked with the tracks of many tears, happy ones this time.

"Where are they? Can I see them?" she whispered hopefully, her head tilted up so she could look at him properly.

"They're in the briefing room, and you can see them whenever you want," Jack replied, glad to see a spark of life back in the blue eyes staring pleadingly at him.

Disentangling himself from her, Jack put a hand on the small of her back and ushered her out of his office and into the briefing room. At the sound of the door opening, the three men in the briefing room had turned to face Jack's office, all relieved when both Jack and Sam entered the room.

Without a word, Sam walked straight up to Daniel and threw her arm around him, squeezing as tightly as she could, her other arm held out expectantly, waiting for Teal'c to move closer. As soon as he was within reach, Sam wrapped her arm around him too. For their part, Daniel and Teal'c both held Sam in crushing hugs, not that she seemed to mind. Sparing a quick look at Jacob, Jack saw the older man was wearing a smile to match his own. Both were relieved that the reunion was going as well as they'd hoped it would.

When the group hug ended long minutes later, Jacob stepped forward to engulf his daughter in another hug. Relief that he really was okay quickly replaced her surprise at his presence in the briefing room. When Jacob tried to let go of her, Sam snaked an arm around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder, clearly not wanting him to step away just yet.

"I know we're all pretty worn out," Jack announced, "But if this doesn't call for a celebration, I don't know what does. How about pizza and beer at my place tonight?"

"Who's buying?" Daniel asked pointedly, crossing his arms expectantly.

"From the look on your face, I'm guessing that would be me?"

"I'm in!" Daniel agreed, a triumphant smile lighting his face.

"As am I." 

"Me too."

"Dad?" Jack prompted.

"Sure, why not," Jacob replied, smirking. "After all, how can I turn down good old Earth beer when you're buying?"

"Everyone go take care of anything that needs to be taken care of, and we'll meet at the elevators in two hours," Jack instructed, turning to head back into his office until he overheard a single sentence that stopped him in his tracks.

"So I hear congratulations are in order," Jacob stated, wrapping an arm around Sam's shoulders and leading the others out of the room.

"Why?" Sam asked, confused.

"That's still what we say on Earth when someone gets engaged, right?"

"Ye… Wait! How do you know about Pete?" she demanded, ignoring Daniel's snickering and the smirk on Teal'c's face.

"Jack," Jacob replied simply, knowing he was landing the other man in hot water.

"Sir!"

"Oops."

A/N: Well, what did you think? Take a minute to write a review and let me know!


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